Shattered Ascension Rulebook - v39_2022-??-??

By Cyrusa
Email for feedback: cyrusa+ti3 (at) crans.org

This rulebook is a work in progress, and an attempt at providing Shattered Ascension players all the rules they need so that they do not have to read from 3 different rulebooks, the TI3 FAQ and the SA change-list. The design goals were to be as concise, consistent and precise as possible.
During the writing, some changes were made to clear ambiguities and clean up rules, that will be debated and progressively included in the SA ruleset or removed from this rulebook. These changes are indicated in comments such as this one.

To get a url pointing to a specific part of this rulebook (to give to a friend for example), hover over a title and click on the link icon that will pop up on its left, then copy the new url of the webpage. This also works for internal links, simply click on them and copy the new url of the webpage.

Notes

Contradictions
If a wording would contradict with another (for example saying you can do something that another wording prevents), then either it explicitly refers to the other wording it is contradicting with, in which case it takes precedence, or it does not, in which case the default precedence order is:
Action Cards > Political Cards > Racial Upgrade > Racial Abilities > Technologies > Rules from this rulebook

Compliance
A player subject to negative effects (for example discard 3 Trade Goods) must fulfil them as far as able (if she only has 2 Trade Goods, she must discard them).

Dice
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all dice mentioned in this rulebook are 10-sided dice going from 1 to 10.

Overview

In a game of Twilight Imperium, 2 to 8 players take the role of varied great races fighting for supremacy in the galaxy after the ruling Lazax Empire has fallen. The game is played over several Rounds, during which players strive to claim Objectives in order to score Victory Points. The first player to reach a predetermined number of Victory Points is declared the winner and the new Empress of the Galaxy.

Content

• Components
• Setup
• Round
  • Strategy Phase
  • Action Phase
  • Status Phase
    • Types of Objectives
    • Winning the Game
• Space Battle
• Invasion Combat
• Systems
  • Generalities Regarding Systems
  • Home Systems
  • Special Systems
  • Regular Systems
  • Planetary Systems
  • Void Systems
• Planets
  • Generalities Regarding Planets
  • Technology Specialties
  • Refresh Abilities
  • Facilities
  • “Turning Neutral”
  • Trade Stations
• Other Board Elements
  • Wormholes
  • Border Tokens
  • Artifacts
  • Worldgates
  • Domain Counters
• Spending Resources And Influence
• Command Counters
  • Command Pool
  • Fleet Supply
  • Strategy Allocation
• Action Cards
• Twilight Council and Political Cards
• Technologies
• Racial Upgrades
• Trade Goods
• Trade Contracts and Trade Agreements
• Components Limitations
• Units
  • Unit Characteristics
  • Unit Categories
  • Unit List
  • Unit Abilities
• Leaders
  • General Leader Rules
  • Leader Abilities
• Surrender And Elimination
• Miscellaneous Rules
• General Definitions
• Rule Adjustments Based On The Number Of Players
• Annex 1: Domain Counters Effects
• Annex 2: Variants and Optional Rules

Components

Setup

Note: players may sit now, but will likely have to change seat later during the setup.

Setup Sequence

1. Building the Galaxy
2. Table Setup
3. Victory Point Goal
4. Game Options
5. Secret Objectives
6. Race Picking
7. Home System Location Bidding OR Galaxy Building
8. Seating Reorganisation
9. Speaker Token Bidding
10. Starting Trade Goods Normalisation
11. Orienting the Rotation Cycler
12. Revealing Objectives
13. Finalising Setup

1) Building the Galaxy

Choose either:

• Choose and build a pre-set map from Shattered Ascension Map Database. Recommended
• Decide to have the player build the map following the Star by Star procedure. In this case, the map will be built at step 6.

2) Table Setup

Find an area of the table that is convenient for all players to reach. Designate this space the common play area, and populate it with the following:

• Shuffled Action Cards deck
• Shuffled Political Cards deck
• Ground Force and Fighter tokens
• Trade Goods tokens
• Planet Cards deck
• The Strategy Cards from number 1 to 8. Add in the 9th if there are 4, 7 or 8 players.
• Shuffled deck of Stage I Public Objectives
• Shuffle deck of Stage II Public Objectives
• Shuffled deck of Preliminary Objectives
• Shuffled deck of Secret Objectives
• The Special Objective Cards
• The Victory Point track
• The Technology Tree

Inside this common play area, designate a space that will be used as the Twilight Council.

3) Victory Point Goal

Decide on the number of Victory Points required to win. The recommended values are:

• 8 Victory Points for 2-player games
• 10 Victory Points for normal games
• 12 Victory Points for a normal game with one more round. Some prefer it because it provides a real late-game stage. Recommended
• 14 Victory Points for epic (long) games

4) Game Options

Decide on the game options to include:

• Path of Fate (Race-Specific Objectives)
• Simultaneous Action System
• Ascendancy (essentially doubles the Victory Point goal and makes objectives claimable multiple times)

Recommended: None.

5) Secret Objectives

Deal two Secret Objective cards to each player. They will have to discard one of them later.

6) Race Picking

1. Have each player roll a die. The highest-rolling player (break ties by additional rolls) is the first player.
2. Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player may either choose any available race to play or pass. The remaining races form the pool of random races.
3. All players without a race are secretly dealt a random race from the pool. They may either keep it, or reshuffle it into the pool (without revealing it).
4. Conduct the above step a second time.
5. All player without a race are publicly dealt a random race from the pool, that they must play for this game.

7) Home System Location Bidding OR Galaxy Building

Note: The Trade Goods that are bid at this step are taken from the reserve, not from the players.

Pre-Set Map

Star by Star Map

8) Seating Reorganisation (Only for non-Online games)

Players may change seat in order to be aligned with their Home System location.

9) Speaker Token Bidding

Note: The Trade Goods that are bid at this step are taken from the reserve, not from the players.

The player on the right of the first player places a bid of Trade Goods (0 is allowed) on the Speaker Token. Then, going counter-clockwise (and looping), each player may either withdraw from the bidding or overbid. The winner gains the Speaker Token. The other players receive as many Trade Goods as the winning bid.

10) Starting Trade Goods Normalization

All players now gain or lose the same number of Trade Goods such that the player with the lowest amount has exactly 1 Trade Good.

11) Orienting the Rotation Cycler

The player holding the Speaker Token may now set the orientation of the Rotation Cycler as she wishes.

12) Revealing Objectives

Reveal:

• All Special Objectives
• 3 random Stage I Public Objectives
• 1 random Preliminary Objective
• 3 random Stage II Public Objectives

13) Finalising Setup

• Each player reshuffles one of her Secret Objective back into the deck.
• Each player draws 2 Political Cards
• Reveal hidden races
• Each player chooses a set of plastic miniatures and takes her race’s Command Counters. She places them near her race sheet to form her “reinforcements”.
• Each player takes the other assets of her race:
  • Flags
  • Flagship card
  • Trade Contracts
  • Racial Upgrades
  • Leaders
  • Planet Cards of her race’s Home System planets
• Each player places a Flag on the zero of the Victory Point Track.
• Each player places Flags on the technology tree besides her starting technologies (indicated on her race sheet).
• Each player places her starting units and Leaders (indicated on her race sheet) in her Home System. ground units and installations may be placed on any planet in it. Leaders may be placed on any ship or planet in it.
• Each player places Command Counters from her reinforcements onto her race sheet as follows:
  • 2 in Strategy Allocation (with the race’s symbol side up)
  • 3 in Command Pool (with the race’s symbol side up)
  • 3 in Fleet Supply (with the ship silhouette side up)

14) Play!

Start the first Round.

Round

Shattered Ascension is played over a consecutive number of Rounds. Each Round is split into three phases: The Strategy Phase where players place a Political Card in the Twilight Council as their agenda and pick their Strategy Card for the Round, the Action Phase, where players use their Strategy Cards, move their ships, conquer planets and build units, and the Status Phase, where the board is cleaned up and players can gain Victory Points by claiming Objectives. If no player is declared winner at the end of a Round, another Round starts.

Strategy Phase

Strategy Phase sequence:

1. Agenda
2. Strategy Card Picking

1) Agenda

2) Strategy Card Picking

Action Phase

For those coming from Twilight Imperium 3, there is no Transfer Action in Shattered Ascension. If you cannot live without it, you can look into the Simultaneous Tactical Action System game option.

Content:

• Strategic Action
• Passing
• Tactical Action
  1. System Activation
  2. Movement
  3. Space Cannon Abilities
  4. Space Battle
  5. Planetary Landings
  6. Invasion Combats
  7. Production

During the Action Phase, each player will take an Action, that can be either a Strategic Action, a Tactical Action, or Passing. The order in which players can take their Action is given by their initiative, the player with the lowest initiative being the first to take an Action.
This sequence (each player taking an Action) is repeated until all players have Passed, at which point the Action Phase ends and the Status Phase begins.

Initiative
The initiative of a player is the number printed on her Strategy Card.

Active Player
A player currently taking an Action is called the active player.

“as an action”
Some effects in the game are used “as an action”. This means that using such effects is done instead of taking an Action during the Action Phase.

Strategic Action

Passing

Tactical Action

1) System Activation

2) Movement

A) Plotting Trajectories

B) Executing movements

3) Space Cannons Abilities

4) Space Battle

5) Planetary Landings

A) Planetary landings

B) Bombardment assignment

6) Invasion Combat

7) Production

A) Deploy Space Mines

B) Produce units

C) Build Space Docks

Status Phase

After the Strategy Phase and the Action Phase comes the Status Phase. During this phase, players claim objectives granting them Victory Points, unlock Racial Upgrades, and more generally “clean up the table” and prepare the game for the next Round.

Status Phase sequence:

1. Claim Objectives
2. Progression Feedback
3. Produce Trade Goods (2:1)
4. Unlock Racial Upgrades
5. Refresh Planets
6. Receive 1 Action Card, 1 Political Card and 2 Command Counters
7. Reallocate Command Counters and Fleet Supply Upkeep
8. Scuttle units and break Trade Agreements
9. Unactivate Systems, repair units, return agendas and Strategy Cards, refresh Space Docks

1) Claim Objectives

Types of objectives

Winning the game

2) Progression Feedback to Victory Point Leader

3) Produce Trade Goods (2:1)

4) Unlock Racial Upgrades

5) Refresh Planets

6) Receive 1 Action Card, 1 Political Card and 2 Command Counters

7) Reallocate Command Counters and Fleet Supply Upkeep

8) Scuttle units and break Trade Agreements

9) Unactivate Systems, repair units, return agendas and Strategy Cards, refresh Space Docks

The end of the Status Phase marks the end of the Round. If no player has won the game yet, a new Round begins.

Space Battle

This section details how to resolve Space Battles. Space Battles are ships versus ships engagements that occur when a player moves ships into a system containing enemy ships. The player that moved ships is the attacker, while the other player is the defender.

A Space Battle consists of a Pre-Combat phase, followed by a succession of Combat Rounds that continues as long as both players have ships in the System the Space Battle takes place in.

Space Battle sequence:

1. Pre-Combat
   1. Anti-Fighter Barrage
   2. Other Pre-Combat Effects
2. Space Battle Combat Round (repeat until the Space Battle ends)
   1. Conduct Combat Rolls
   2. Assign Hits
   3. Conduct Retreat

Here are a few definitions that will be used in the following:

Combat Roll :
The act of rolling a die and checking if its result is greater or equal to a unit’s combat value. If it is, a hit is scored by the owner of the unit.

Assigning a hit :
When her opponent scores a hit during a Space Battle or Invasion Combat, a player must assign it to one of her units involved in the Space Battle or Invasion Combat (she chooses which unit), if able. Each unit may only be assigned at most one hit, and doing so destroys the unit.
Hits scored by the opponent that were not ignored or cancelled are said to be inflicted by the opponent, even if they cannot be assigned (for example if more hits than the number of units present were scored).

End of a Space Battle:
If before a Combat Round would begin, either the attacker or the defender does not have ships in the System of the Space Battle, the Space Battle ends. If one player still has ships in the System at this point, she is declared the winner of the Space Battle.

1) Pre-Combat

During this phase, all pre-combat effects are resolved.

1.a) Anti-Fighter Barrages

1.b) Other Pre-Combat effects

2) Space Battle Combat Round

2.a) Conduct Combat Rolls

2.b) Assign Hits

2.c) Conduct Retreat

Invasion Combats

This section details how to resolve Invasion Combats. Invasion Combats are battles on planets, that occur when a player lands ground units on an enemy planet that contains ground units and/or PDSs. The player that landed ground units is the attacker, the other player is the defender.

Like Space Battles, Invasion Combats consist of a Pre-Combat phase, followed by a succession of Combat Rounds that continues as long as both players have ground units on the planet the Invasion Combat is taking place.

Invasion Combat sequence:

1. Pre-Combat
   1. Bombardment
   2. Invasion Defence
2. Invasion Combat Combat Round (repeat until the Invasion Combat ends)
   1. Perform Combat Rolls
   2. Assign Hits

End of an Invasion Combat:
If before a Combat Round would begin, either the attacker or the defender does not have ground units on the planet the Invasion Combat is taking place, the Invasion Combat ends:

• If the attacker still has ground units on the planet at this point, she wins the Invasion Combat. The defender’s installations on the planet are destroyed and the attacker takes control of the planet, exhausted.
• Else (if the attacker no longer has ground units on the planet, regardless of whether the defender has any), the defender wins the Invasion Combat. The attacker’s PDSs on the planet are destroyed.

1) Pre-Combat

1.a) Bombardment

1.b) Invasion Defence

2) Invasion Combat Combat Round

2.a) Perform Combat Rolls

2.b) Assign Hits

Systems

The hexagonal tiles that make up the galaxy map are called Systems.

Content:

• Generalities Regarding Systems
  • Adjoining / Adjacent
  • Distance between Systems
  • Control of a System
• Home Systems
• Special Systems
• Regular Systems
• Planetary Systems
• Void Systems

Generalities Regarding Systems

Adjoining / Adjacent

• Two Systems are adjoining if their tiles are in physical contact.
• Two Systems are adjacent if they are adjoining, or if they are connected by a Wormholes.

Distance Between Systems

Control of a System

Home Systems (Yellow Borders)

Each player will start the game in the Home System of her race, containing her starting units and planets. By extension, the “Home System of a player” is the Home System of her race.

Special rules:

• During the first Round of a game, players may not activate the Home Systems of other players.
• A player that does not control all the planets of her Home System suffers a -2 Victory Points penalty. This penalty disappears as soon as she takes these planets back.
• At the beginning of the Strategy Phase, players regain control of the planets in their Home System that do not contain any enemy ground unit. These planets are acquired exhausted and installations present on them are captured.
• Unlike other planets, a player does not need to have been in control of the planets of her Home System since the beginning of the Round in order to build Space Docks on them.

Special Systems (Red Borders)

Content:

• Asteroid Fields
• Ion Storms
• Nebula
• Supernova
• Gravity Rifts

Asteroid Field

• Ships may not end their movement in an Asteroid Field.
• Ships may not enter and leave an Asteroid Field in the same movement.
• The Space Cannon ability may not fire at units in an Asteroid Field.

Ion Storm

• Ships may not enter and leave an Ion Storm in the same movement.
• The Space Cannon ability may not fire at units in an Ion Storm.
• Fighters in an Ion Storm cannot perform Combat Rolls.

Nebula

• Ships may not enter and leave a Nebula in the same movement.
• Ships inside a Nebula have a movement value of 1 that cannot be increased by any effect.
• During Space Battles in a Nebula, the defender receives +1 to all her Combat Rolls.

Supernova

• Ships may not end their movement in a Supernova.
• Ships may not enter and leave a Supernova in the same movement.

Gravity Rift

• Moving out of a Gravity Rift right after entering it does not cost a movement point, unless entering and leaving through opposite edges of the tile (or using a wormhole).
  
• Roll one die for each ship moving through a Gravity Rift. On a roll of 1,2 or 3, the ship ends its move in it, and the System becomes activated (from reinforcement).
  If enemy ships are present in the System, the ship is destroyed instead.
• Ships in a Gravity Rift do not block enemy movement through the System.

Here is a diagram of the movement costs when moving through a Gravity Rift:

Regular Systems

A Regular System is any System that is neither a Home System nor a Special System. Usually, the majority of the Systems of a galaxy are Regular Systems.

Planetary Systems

A Planetary System is any System that contains at least one planet.

Void Systems

A Void System is any Regular Systems that does not contain any planet or Wormhole.

Planets

Each planet has a resource value (the number on a green background) and an influence value (the number on a red background). Planets may also feature a number of Technology Specialties (red/green/blue/yellow technology symbols), and a Refresh Ability (symbol depending on the actual refresh ability).

Generalities Regarding Planets

Planet Card

Planet Control

Refreshed and Exhausted states

“Empty Planet”

Technology Specialties

Technology Specialties represent a certain local knowledge or a natural resource important to a specific research field.
Each Technology Specialty on a refreshed planet reduces by 1 (down to a minimum of 0) the cost of purchasing a Technology of the same colour (usually via the Secondary Ability of the Technology Strategy Card), for the controller of the planet.

Refresh Abilities

A Refresh Ability is indicated by a symbol on the right of a planet’s influence value, and is detailed on the associated planet card.
Refresh Abilities can be used during the Refresh Planets step of the Status Phase, by not refreshing the planet.

Facilities

Facilities can be built on planets to increase their resource or influence value.
There are two types of Facilities: Colonies and Refineries. A Colony increases the influence value of the planet it is on by 1, while a Refinery does the same for the resource value.

Facilities are not built for resources. Instead, players may place Facilities on their planets instead of normally refreshing them during the Refresh Planets step of the Status Phase. This is not possible on Home System planets, Trade Stations and planets already containing a Facility.

Once built, place the Facility card under the planet card, with the bottom edge sticking out to display the +1 in either resource or influence.

When a player takes control of a planet containing Facilities, she may destroy some of them. Facilities that are not destroyed stay on the planet.

Note: Facilities are NOT units.

“Turning Neutral”

When a planet “turns neutral” (because of a game effect), all units on it are destroyed, the owner of the planet loses control of it and it becomes neutral.

Trade Stations

Trade Stations are a specific type of planets, with the following special rules:

• No Domain Counter or Natural Wealth may exist on a Trade Station.
• Ground units, installations, Facilities and Leaders may not exist on Trade Stations, and no landing or bombardment may be conducted against them.
• A player takes control of a Trade Station if, at the end of an action, she has ships in its System. She retains control of it even if she stops having ships in the System, until another player takes control of it.
• A player cannot lose control of a Trade Station for any reason if she has ships in its system.

Other Board Elements

Wormholes

Wormholes are spatial anomalies that connect distant areas of space.

Two Systems containing Wormholes of the same type are considered adjacent for all purposes.

Flippable Wormhole tokens

Stable Wormhole tokens

Stable Wormholes

Border Tokens

Border Tokens are placed on the tile edges between two Systems:

• Asteroid Belts
• Ion Spheres
• Standing Grav-Waves
• Collapsed Space-Times
• Space Mines

Asteroid Belts

• Ships may not move through Asteroid Belts
• The Space Cannon ability may not fire through Asteroid Belts.

Ion Spheres

• Units may only move through an Ion Sphere as the last part of their movement. Players with the Maneuvering Jets technology may ignore this restriction.
• The Space Cannon ability may not fire through Ion Spheres.

Standing Grav-Waves

• Units may only move through Standing Grav-Wave in the direction indicated by the token.

Collapsed Space-Times

• Units may never move through Collapsed Space-Times.
• The Space Cannon ability may not fire through Collapsed Space-Times.

Space Mines

Artifacts

There are eight Artifact tokens. Four of them harbor technology colors and are actual Artifacts, while the other four have Trade Goods symbols and are called Dummy Artifacts.

Artifacts may exist on planets or in space, are placed on the galaxy when it is created and may not be moved or destroyed by players.

Controlling Artifacts

• Artifact on a Planet
  A player takes control of an Artifact on a planet if she controls the planet at the end of an action. She loses control of it as soon as she loses control of the planet.
• Artifact in Space
  A player takes control of an Artifact in space if, at the end of an action, she has ships in its System. She retains control of it even if she stops having ships in the System, until another player takes control of it.

Dummy Artifacts

Artifacts-related Special Objectives

Technology Cost Reduction

Worldgates

Worldgates are placed on some planets of the galaxy when it is created and may not be moved or destroyed by players.

When a player performs a Tactical Action in a System containing planets with Worldgates, she may, during the Planetary Landing step, move any number of her ground units, PDSs and Leaders from other planets that also contain Worldgates, in unactivated Systems, to these planets. Treat units and Leaders moved this way as if they had been normally landed on the planets.

Domain Counters

Domain Counters are counters placed on planets or in space to represent the dangers and rewards of space exploration and colonization.

There are two types of Domain Counters, the Distant Suns ones have the image of a planet on their back, while the Final Frontier ones have an image of empty space on their back.

Even though the Distant Suns Domain Counters are mostly intended to be placed on planets while the Final Frontier ones are intended to be placed in space, some counters can be placed in both types of locations.

Refer to the Effects of Domain Counters annex to find the effects of all the Domain Counters.

Domain Counters on planets

Domain Counters in space

Taking Control of a Planet with Domain Counters

Resolving Domain Counters

Custodians of Mecatol Rex

Spending Resources and Influence

Throughout a game, players will need to spend resources and influence for many different purposes.

Key points:

• In order to pay a certain amount of resources or influence, players must exhaust some of their planets to provide at least as many resources/influence as the required amount (extra resources/influence provided are lost).
• Exhausting a planet provides either as many resources as its resource value, or as many influence as its influence value, but not both. The player controlling the planet decides when exhausting it.
• It is not possible to use only a portion of the resources/influence of a planet when exhausting and save the rest for later. Planets always provides the full values when they are exhausted.
• An exhausted planet may not be exhausted again until it is refreshed by another effect.
• Players may not exhaust their planets outside of paying a cost or being allowed to by another effect.

Command Counters

Each player has a number of Command Counters. They are used for various purposes, which this section will explain. During the game, Command Counters can exist either in a player’s reinforcements, on one of the three dedicated zones of her race sheet, or in systems of the galaxy.

Whenever a player receives or gain a Command Counter, she must place it on her race sheets in one of the three following areas (she chooses which):

• Command Pool
• Fleet Supply
• Strategy Allocation

Command Counters may not be moved from one area to another, except during the Reallocate Command Counters and Fleet Supply Upkeep step of the Status Phase.

Command Pool

The Command Counters in the Command Pool are used to perform Tactical Actions. If a player does not have any Command Counter in her Command Pool, she may not perform Tactical Actions.

Fleet Supply 

Command Counters placed in Fleet Supply must be placed with the “fleet” side up.
The number of Command Counters in a player’s Fleet Supply is her Fleet Supply. A player is said to be in violation of her Fleet Supply in a given System if she has more non-Fighter ships in that System than her Fleet Supply.

• A player may not move or acquire units if that would cause her to violate her Fleet Supply. A player may not plot ship trajectories if the corresponding movements could cause her to violate her Fleet Supply (This can typically happen with Gravity Rift).

• Exception: A player may retreat ships even if that would cause her to violate her Fleet Supply.

• If a player violates her Fleet Supply in a System, she must destroy enough of her non-Fighter ships in that System to comply with her Fleet Supply again. This can for example happen after a retreat or if she removes Command Counters from her Fleet Supply.

• The Fleet Supply constraint is not checked while ships are moving, but is checked right after all ships have finished their movement.

It is important to note that the Fleet Supply is a constraint on the number of non-Fighter ship of fleets, not on the number of fleets. For example, a player with 3 Fleet Supply may have as many fleets as she wants (up to one per System!), but none of these fleets may contain more than 3 non-Fighter ships.

Strategy Allocation

Command Counters in the Strategy Allocation are spent to use various effects. Most notably, the Secondary Abilities of Strategy Cards often require the spending of a Command Counter from Strategy Allocation in order to be executed.

Action Cards

Throughout the game, players will come into possessions of Action Cards that they will add to their hand.

Key Points:

• Timing: Each Action Card has a specified timing at which it can be played, indicated by the “Play:” label.
• “As an Action”: Action Cards with the “As an action” timing are played instead of taking an action during the Action Phase.
• Hand limit: A player may not have more than 7 Action Cards in her hand. If she would exceed this limit by drawing Action Cards, she first draws all her Action Cards, and then discard Action Cards from her hand until she has 7.
• Sabotage: When an Action Card is revealed by a player, but before it starts being resolved, it can be sabotaged by some effects. Sabotaged Action Cards are discarded instead of being resolved and the game resumes as if they had not been played. In particular, playing an “as an Action” Action Card that gets sabotaged does not take an action.
• Effect Location: Each Action Card has a specified effect location, indicating in which System of the galaxy it is played. This information is used by Agents.
• Discard Pile: The discard pile of Action Cards is public. Any player may look at it at any time.
• Private Information: Players may not show the Action Cards from their hand to others unless when playing them.
• Take-backs: After revealing an Action Card to play it, but before resolving it, the player that revealed it may take the Action Card back to her hand without resolving it.
• No Double Play: A player may not play two Action Cards with the same name during the same action.
• Home System Restriction: Action Cards that are normally restricted from being used in Home Systems can still be used if granted permission by the System’s original owner.

Twilight Council and Political Cards

Agendas refer to the Political Cards that were placed in the Twilight Council zone during the Strategy Phase.

The Twilight Council concurs as part of the Assembly (3) Strategy Card Primary Ability.
During this Primary Ability, the active player must choose a number of agendas to be voted on (see the Strategy Card), and select the order in which they will be resolved after being voted on.

Voting

1. Each player calculates how many votes she has, by summing the influence values of all her unexhausted planets and potentially adding bonus votes granted by other effects. If a player would have 0 votes, she gets 1 vote.
2. Players debate, threaten, lure, bribe or convince each other. Remember that no promises are binding.
3. Players take a piece of paper and a pen, and secretly write their votes. They split their votes between the agendas and may not vote for two different outcomes of the same agenda, but they are not required to use all of their votes.
   For example, in order to place 3 votes on the FOR outcome of an agenda, a player would write: “: For 3” on her sheet. But she cannot also place votes on the against outcome of the same agenda.
4. All vote sheets are collected and votes are tallied. Then the agendas are resolved according to the outcome that got the more votes. Finally, resolved agendas are discarded.

Ties
If multiple outcomes of the same agenda receive the same number of votes, the tie is broken by the Speaker.
Exception: an agenda that does not receive any vote is discarded without effect.

Political Cards keywords

Political Cards feature some keywords to indicate how players can vote on them and how they are resolved:

“Elect”
Political Cards with the “elect” keywords ask the player to elect someone or something (depending on the card). The subject getting the most votes will be elected.

“For or Against”
Political Cards with the “For or Against” keyword have only two outcomes: For and Against. The outcome receiving the most votes will be resolved.

“Law”
Political Cards with the “Law” keyword represent permanent changes and will stay active after they were voted on.
Exception: A “For or Against” “Law” of which the Against outcome is resolved does not stay active and is discarded.

Other Rules for Political Cards

• Hand Limit: A player may not have more than 7 Political Cards in hand. If she would exceed this limit by drawing Political Cards, she first draws all her Political Cards, and then discard Political Cards from her hand until she has 7.
• Discard Pile: The discard pile of Political Cards is public. Any player may look at it at any time.
• Private Information: Players may not show the Political Cards from their hand to others.
• Resolution Ambiguities: When resolving a Political Card, if an ambiguity arises as to in which order players should do a given thing, the active player goes first, followed by the other players according to the rotation cycler.

Voice of the Council

After the agendas being voted on and their resolution order have been chosen, any player may spend 1 Command Counter from Strategy Allocation to include the Voice of the Council Special Objective to the agendas being voted on. If no player choose to do so, the game continues.
Voice of the Council is treated as a Political Card with the “elect player” keyword for the duration of the vote (it stops being treated as a Political Card after being resolved). It will always be resolved after the other agendas have been resolved. The player elected as voice of the council now qualifies for the corresponding objective, until another player is elected voice of the council in a later election.

Note: As for all the Special Objectives (green), Voice of the Council is not claimed instantly after a player qualifies for it.

Technologies

Technologies represent scientific advances the players can acquire (research) throughout the game to strengthen the potential of their race. Technologies are presented in a Technology Tree and can be of one of these four colors, corresponding to four technological domains:

• Blue: Propulsion technologies
• Red: Warfare technologies
• Green: Biotechnologies
• Yellow: Economic technologies

Acquisition of Technologies

Acquisition
Technologies are mostly acquired through the Technology Strategy Card (7). When a player acquires a Technology, she places one of her flags on the corresponding Technology on the Technology Tree and benefit from its effects.

Prerequisites
Some Technologies have other Technologies as prerequisites. This is indicated on the Technology Tree by lines: when two Technologies are connected by a line, the topmost Technology is a prerequisite of the other one. A player cannot acquire a Technology that has prerequisites without having acquired at least one of its prerequisites.
Exception: When a ‘+’ symbol in a red circle is present, both prerequisites are required.

Purchases and Discounts
Some effects allow players to “purchase” Technology for a given resource price. This simply means the player may pay the required amount of resources to acquire a Technology.
This cost is reduced by 1 if the player controls the Artefact of the same color than the purchased Technology, and by 1 for each Technology Specialty of the same color than the purchased Technology present on refreshed planets the player controls.

“You may use the effects of …”

Some effects allow players to “use the effects of” some Technologies. This means that even though they may not have a particular Technology, they are allowed to benefit from its effects. However, they are not considered as having this Technology (for example for the purpose of Objectives, or prerequisites), and even if they do have this Technology, they cannot benefit from its effects twice.

Racial Upgrades

Racial Upgrades are race-specific bonuses and abilities that can be unlocked during the game at the Unlock Racial Upgrades step of the Status Phase.

Trade Goods

When a player receives Trade Goods, she places them into the Trade Good Area of her race sheet. Whenever she spends resources or influence, she can decide to spend some of her Trade Goods as substitutes for one resource or influence each. For example if she wants to spend five resources, she can exhaust Planets for three resources and spend two Trade Goods.
Spent Trade Goods are returned to the common play area.

Players are allowed to give other players Trade Goods from their Trade Good Area at any time. This makes Trade Goods a flexible currency with which to bribe, pay, or assist other players economically.

Trade Contracts and Trade Agreements

Content:

• Trade Contracts
• Opening Trade Agreements
• Difference Between Trade Contract And Trade Agreement
• Receiving Trade Goods From Trade Agreements
• Breaking Trade Agreements
• Self-Trading
• Trading Example

Trade Contracts

Each race has two Trade Contracts, with numerical values printed on one of the sides (the Trade Agreement side). At the beginning of the game, players place these cards face down in their playing area (with the Trade Agreement side facing the table).

Opening Trade Agreements

Some effects (most notably the Primary Ability of the Trade Strategy Card (5)) allow players to open Trade Agreements. When two players want to open a Trade Agreement with each other, they exchange one of their Trade Contracts and flip them (so the Trade Agreement sides are up).
Restriction: two players may not have more than one Trade Agreements with each other at the same time.

Difference between “Trade Contract” and “Trade Agreement”

The “Trade Contracts” of a race are the cards bearing its symbol, while its “Trade Agreements” are the Trade Contracts of other races it received when opening Trade Agreements with them.

Receiving Trade Goods from Trade Agreements

Various effects (most notably the Special Ability of the Trade Strategy Card (5)) “place Trade Goods on active Trade Agreements”. When this happens, players place, on their Trade Agreements, a number of Trade Goods equal to the numerical values of these Trade Agreements.
Various effects (most notably the Primary and Secondary Ability of the Trade Strategy Card (5)) allow players to collect the Trade Goods present on their Trade Agreements and place them in their Trade Goods Area.

Breaking Trade Agreements

There are multiple ways a Trade Agreement can be broken. The most common ones are:

• Any player involved in a Trade Agreement may unilaterally break it during the Scuttle Units And Break Trade Agreements step of the Status Phase.
• At the end of an action during which a player performed a Hostile Act against another, any Trade Agreements between these two players are broken.

When a Trade Agreement is broken, the two players automatically collect some of the Trade Goods present on their Trade Agreements (the rest are discarded), then they flip the cards so that the Trade Agreement sides face the table and finally give the card back to their former trade partner.

How many Trade Goods players collect depends on how the Trade Agreement was broken:

• If it was broken due to a Hostile Act, the player that performed the Hostile Act collects none of the Trade Goods on her Trade Agreements, while her trade partner collects all the Trade Goods on her Trade Agreement.
• If it was broken for any other reason, both players collect half (round down) of the Trade Goods on their Trade Agreement.

Self-Trading

While normally forbidden, some effects allow players to self-trade some of their Trade Contracts. When self-trading a Trade Contract, simply flip it to show the Trade Agreement side and treat it as a Trade Agreement opened with yourself.

Trading Example

• Let us assume Letnev and Sol have opened a Trade Agreement. Letnev gave Sol one of her Trade Contract (value: 1), while Sol returned the favor (value: 2). So at this stage, Letnev has in its playing zone one of Sol’s Trade Contracts with the Trade Agreement side face-up (showing the value of 2), while Sol has one of Letnev’s Trade Contracts (showing the value of 1). Saying the same thing in a different way: Letnev has one of Sol’s Trade Contract as Trade Agreement, and Sol has one of Letnev’s Trade Contract as Trade Agreement.

• Let us assume that an effect placed Trade Goods on the Trade Agreements. So there are 2 Trade Goods on Letnev’s Trade Agreement (Sol’s Trade Contract in Letnev’s playing zone), and 1 Trade Good on Sol’s Trade Agreement (Letnev’s Trade Contract in Sol’s playing zone).

• If Letnev uses an effect allowing her to collect the Trade Goods on her Trade Agreements at this point, she would gain the 2 Trade Goods present on Sol’s Trade Contract.

• If this Trade Agreement would get broken because Sol performs a hostile act against Letnev, Letnev would gain the all the Trade Goods on her Trade Agreement (2), while Sol would gain nothing and discard the Trade Good on her Trade Agreement. They would then exchange back the Trade Contracts and flip them (so the Trade Agreement side faces the table).

• If this Trade Agreement would get broken for another reason, Letnev would gain half round down of the Trade Goods on her Trade Agreement (1), while Sol would also gain half round down of the Trade Goods on her Trade Agreement (0).

Components Limitations

All components, except those listed below, are unlimited. Players can use any reasonable objects to replace them if they would run out.
Supplement cardboard tokens exist for Fighters and Ground Forces.

Limited components:

• Space Docks: 5
• PDSs: 10
• Flagship: 1
• War Suns: 3
• Dreadnoughts: 7
• Carriers: 8
• Cruisers: 12
• Destroyers: 16
• No limit on Fighters
• Armors (a.k.a. Mechanised Units): 8
• No limit on Shock Troops
• No limit on Ground Forces

If a player goes over one of these limits, she must immediately scuttle the units in excess.

Units

Units Characteristics

• categories
• movement value
• resource cost
• production capacity cost
• combat dice
• combat value
• abilities
• traits

Categories

Movement Value

Resource Cost and Production Capacity Cost

Combat Dice

Combat Value

Abilities

Traits

Unit Categories

Ship

Non-Fighter Ship

Ground Units

Installation

Units List

• Flagship
• War Sun
• Dreadnought
• Carrier
• Cruiser
• Destroyer
• Fighter
• Armor
• Shock Troop
• Ground Force
• PDS
• Space Dock

Flagship

• categories: ship, Non-Fighter ship
• movement value: Race-dependant
• resource cost: 10
• production capacity cost: 3
• combat dice: Race-dependant

• combat value: Race-dependant

• abilities:

  • Race-dependant
• traits:

War Sun

• categories: ship, Non-Fighter ship
• movement value: 1
• resource cost: 12
• production capacity cost: 3
• combat dice: 3
• combat value: 3
• abilities:
  • Bombardment (1)
  • Capacity (6)
  • Sustain Damage (2)
• traits:
  • Requires Technology: This unit cannot be produced by a player that has not acquired the War Sun Technology.

Dreadnought

• categories: ship, Non-Fighter ship
• movement value: 1
• resource cost: 5
• production capacity cost: 2
• combat dice: 2
• combat value: 5
• abilities:
  • Bombardment (1)
  • Sustain Damage (1)
• traits:

Carrier

• categories: ship, Non-Fighter ship
• movement value: 1
• resource cost: 3
• production capacity cost: 1
• combat dice: 1
• combat value: 9
• abilities:
  • Capacity (6)
• traits:

Cruiser

• categories: ship, Non-Fighter ship
• movement value: 2
• resource cost: 2
• production capacity cost: 1
• combat dice: 1
• combat value: 7
• abilities:
  • Deploy Space Mines (2)
• traits:

Destroyer

• categories: ship, Non-Fighter ship
• movement value: 2
• resource cost: 1
• production capacity cost: 1
• combat dice: 1
• combat value: 9
• abilities:
  • Anti-Fighter Barrage (2)
• traits:

Fighter

• categories: ship
• movement value: NA
• resource cost: 0.5
• production capacity cost: 1
• combat dice: 1
• combat value: 9
• abilities:
• traits:
  • Space Cargo: This ship may be picked up and carried by ships with adequate capacity, but is released as soon as the ship carrying it ends its movement.
  • Requires Support: The amount of free capacity able to carry units with this trait that a player has in a given System determines the maximum amount of units with this trait she can have in the System. Units in excess must be scuttled. This check is not performed during Space Battles.

Armor (A.k.a. Mechanised Units)

• categories: ground unit
• movement value: NA
• resource cost: 2
• production capacity cost: 2
• combat dice: 2
• combat value: 6
• abilities:
  • Sustain Damage (1)
• traits:
  • Planet-based: This unit is placed on planets and cannot move on its own.
  • Cargo: This unit may be picked up, carried, and landed by ships with adequate capacity.
  • Bombardment Prone: Bombardment hits must be assigned in priority to units with this trait, which may not sustain them using Sustain Damage.

Shock Troop

• categories: ground unit
• movement value: NA
• resource cost: 2
• production capacity cost: 1
• combat dice: 1
• combat value: 5
• abilities:
  • Capture Installations
  • Commando
• traits:
  • Planet-based: This unit is placed on planets and cannot move on its own.
  • Cargo: This unit may be picked up, carried, and landed by ships with adequate capacity.
  • Frontline Fighters: When assigning hits during an Invasion Combat combat round, they must be assigned in priority to units with this trait.
  • Ground Force-like: This unit is treated like a Ground Force by and for all effects applying or referring to Ground Forces in play. The “in play” in the previous sentence typically prevents effects altering the price of Ground Forces from affecting the price of this unit when it is produced.

Ground Force

• categories: ground unit
• movement value: NA
• resource cost: 0.5
• production capacity cost: 1
• combat dice: 1
• combat value: 8
• abilities:
  • Shock Troop Upgrade
• traits:
  • Planet-based: This unit is placed on planets and cannot move on its own.
  • Cargo: This unit may be picked up, carried, and landed by ships with adequate capacity.

PDS (Planetary Defence System)

• categories: installation
• movement value: NA
• resource cost: 2
• production capacity cost: 1
• combat dice: NA
• combat value: 6
• abilities:
  • Space Cannon (1)
  • Invasion Defence (1)
  • Planetary Shield (1)
• traits:
  • Planet-based: This unit is placed on planets and cannot move on its own.
  • Limited to 2 per planet: a player cannot have more than 2 units of this type on the same planet.
  • Cargo: This unit may be picked up, carried, and landed by ships with adequate capacity.

Space Dock

• categories: installation
• movement value: NA
• resource cost: 4
• production capacity cost: NA
• combat dice: NA
• combat value: NA
• abilities:
  • Produce Units (n), where n is the resource value of the planet the Space Dock is on plus 2.
  • Capacity (3 Fighters)
• traits:
  • Unproduceable: This unit cannot be produced using the Produce Units ability.
  • Special building process: This unit can be built during the Production step of Tactical Actions. See the description of this step for more details.
  • Planet-based: This unit is placed on planets and cannot move on its own.
  • Limited to 1 per planet: A player cannot have more than 1 unit of this type on the same planet.
  • Exhaustion: This unit can be exhausted by some effects. Flip the unit to indicate this state. When it is exhausted, it cannot use its Produce Units ability. Flip the unit back when it is refreshed (typically during the last step of the Status Phase).

Unit Abilities

This section details the different abilities units can have.

Important:
When a unit receives a numbered ability it already has, the two numbers are summed up. For example, a unit with the Planetary Shield (1) ability receiving the Planetary Shield (1) ability now has the Planetary Shield (2) ability.

Anti-Fighter Barrage (n)

Bombardment (n)

Capacity (n)

Capture Installations

Commando

Deep Space Cannon (n)

Deploy Space Mines (n)

Invasion Defence (n)

Planetary Shield (n)

Pre-Combat Shot (n)

Produce Units (n)

Shock Troop Upgrade

Space Cannon (n)

Sustain Damage (n)

Leaders

Each race starts the game with 3 Leaders, great personalities with powerful abilities. There are 5 types of Leaders, each with their own set of abilities.

General Leader Rules

This section explains the general rules that apply to all Leaders.

Movement

• Similarly to a ground unit, a Leader is always on a planet or being carried by a ship. Any ship may carry one or more Leaders, using 0 capacity.
• The owner of a Leader may freely move it within its System during her actions, unless the System contains enemy ships, or she is currently resolving a Tactical Action step. This means that a Leader can be moved between the resolution of two consecutive Tactical Action steps, but not while a step is resolved.
• Leaders may use any effect allowing the movement of friendly ground units, without counting towards the number of ground units moved.
• A Leader may not land on a non-friendly planet without being accompanied by ground units.

Fate Roll

Fate Roll Table:

• 1: Killed
• 2-7: Captured
  Note: “Captured” requires enemy control of the planet or space where the Leader was situated. If these circumstances do not apply, treat this result as Escape Instead.
• 8-10: Escape

Executions and Releases

Leader Abilities

Note: Leader abilities with an * do not stack between multiple Leaders of the same type. For example, your ground units fighting with two Generals only receive +1 to their combat rolls, not +2.

Admiral

• Fire Control: A ship carrying Admiral(s) has one extra combat die.*
• Astrogation: A Dreadnought carrying an Admiral has +1 movement.*
• Withdrawal: Retreating a fleet with an Admiral uses a Command Counter from reinforcements.

Diplomat

• Grant Passage: A Diplomat may let fleets move through each other in its system if their owners agree. The Diplomat can do this while moving.
• Ceasefire: A Diplomat may let defending fleets in its system retreat before the Space Battle step if the attacker agrees.
• Objection: A Diplomat may cancel enemy landing and bombardment on its planet, unless the attacker spends 6 influence, in which case the Diplomat escapes. You may not use this ability on the same planet this round or the next.

General

• Inspiration: Ground units with a General receive +1 to combat rolls during Invasion Combats.*
• Tactics: A General may re-roll 2 friendly combat rolls (or the same twice) per Invasion Combat combat round.*
• Fortification: Bombardment rolls against a planet with a General receive -3.*

Agent

• Infiltration: An army invading with an Agent cannot be shot at by PDSs, and captures PDSs and Space Docks when winning (they still count as ‘destroyed’ for objectives).
• Sabotage: An Agent at the effect location of an Action Card just played may cancel it. “Scattered effects” are only cancelled in the Agent’s system. Cooldown: this round and the next.
• Capture: An Agent in Space Battle or Invasion Combat may capture enemy Leaders who would make fate rolls.

Scientist

• Analysis: A Scientist doubles the discount from a technology specialty or Artifact on its planet (or in space if on a ship) that is not doubled by another Scientist.
• Architect: A Scientist reduces the resource cost of building Space Docks on its planet by 1.*
• Ballistics: PDSs on planets with a Scientist receive +1 Planetary Shield and +1 to combat rolls.*
• Eureka: Before acquiring a Technology, a Scientist may exhaust its planet, if it has a technology specialty, to skip a pre-requisite of the same color.

Surrender and Elimination

Sometimes a player does not want to (surrender) or cannot (elimination) continue playing. This section explains how to deal with these situations. Additionally, the armistice procedure provides a way to amicably settle a game without playing it out to the end.

• Surrender
• Elimination
• Armistice

Surrender

When passing during the Action Phase, a player who wish to stop playing may surrender to leave the game. After this happens, the surrendering player may not act in the game anymore and her next Status Phase is skipped (she can leave the table). Follow this procedure at the end of the round:

1. Victory Point penalty: The surrendering player loses 2 Victory Points. This penalty does not stack with the one from the non-control of all the planets in the Home System.
2. Identify the Capital Planet:
   At each of these substeps, ties are broken in favour of the planet with the highest resource value worth of ground units and PDS on it, and in case there is still a tie, by choosing one at random
   1. If she controls at least one planet with a Space Dock in her Home System, the one with the highest combined resource and influence is the capital planet.
   2. Else, if she controls at least one planet with a Space Dock, the one with the highest combined resource and influence is the capital planet.
   3. Else, the planet with the highest combined resource and influence is the capital planet.
3. Garrison the Capital Planet:
   The surrendering player receives Ground Forces on the capital planet until either 3 Ground Forces were added or there are at least 5 ground units.
4. Remove all Space Docks, except the one on the capital planet (if any)
5. Remove the Flagship (if it is on the board)
6. Remove all Leaders, except the captives
   In the rest of the game, if one of these captives would escape, it is removed from the game instead.

7. Bidding on the fleets and planets of the surrendering player:
   Starting with the Speaker and following the Rotation Cycler (ignoring the surrendering player), each player will choose a fleet or planet (except the capital planet) of the surrendering player that will be bid upon.

   After a fleet or planet has been chosen, starting with the player that chose and following the Rotation Cycler (again, ignoring the surrendering player), each player may either place a bid of influence or withdraw from this bidding. Repeat this until only one player has not withdrawn: this player wins this bidding. The winner of a bidding must spend as many influence as her bid, and takes control of the fleet or planet (including the units on it, but exhausted) that was bid upon.
   Note that the player that chose must place a bid on her first turn (but she can bid 0), and that no player may place a bid she could not afford to pay later. Also, as an exception to the Fleet Supply rule, players are allowed to take control via this process of a fleet that would put them in violation of their Fleet Supply (they still have to destroy ships to comply with Flet Supply afterwards).

   Repeat this process until all the fleets and planets (except the capital planet) of the surrendering player have been attributed to other players.

8. Elimination:
   Finally, the surrendering player is eliminated (follow the elimination procedure), with the exception that the Trade Agreements she had with other players stay open until the capital planet is lost (or until her trade partners perform Hostile Acts against the capital planet).

Note: The capital planet and its units (until they are taken over or destroyed) are to be considered by the remaining players as belonging to an opponent that has the same technologies, racial abilities and racial upgrades the surrendering player had. They systematically use any effects they have to, but none that are optional, except the Space Cannon ability which they use whenever they can.

Elimination

If at the end of an action or during the Status Phase, a player does not control any planet or unit, she is eliminated:

1. All her Action Cards, Political Cards, Trade Goods and Command Counters are discarded. Her Secret Objective(s) in hand are not discarded and stay secret.
2. Trade Agreements opened with her are broken and may never be re-opened.
3. If she was the Speaker, the next player in the Rotation Cycler order becomes the Speaker.
4. If she had a Strategy Card, she immediately returns it, even if it was not played yet.
5. She is ignored by all effects
6. The game now has one fewer players, so some rules adjustments based on the number of players may come into play. See the section dedicated to these rules.

Note: The Home System of an eliminated player is still considered as the Home System of an opponent by the remaining players. This means in particular that objectives requiring to control planets in an opponent’s Home System can be claimed with the Home System of an eliminated player.

Armistice (Experimental)

It may happen that a player is almost guaranteed to win, and that other players do not see a way to stop her, but the game would still technically require to be played out. When this happens, the following rule can be used to cut the game short. It simulates an amicable settlement of the end game.

At any point during the game, if all players agree, you can follow these steps to end the game immediately. All players must agree on all decisions made during this procedure for the armistice to be valid.

1. Choose a player to be the winner of the game. She is awarded enough Victory Points to reach the Victory Point goal.
2. The winner can award Victory Points to any remaining players, up to a total amount of awarded Victory Points equal to the number of players.
3. The remaining players may cede Victory Points to each other.
4. If all players agree on the final result, the game is over. If no agreement can be reached, it continues as normal.

The maximum number of Victory Points any non-winning player can have is 2 Victory Points less than the winner.

Miscellaneous Rules

• When an effect asks a player to place a Command Counter in a System in which she already has a Command Counter, do not add a second Command Counter.

• When a player controls a planet without having any units on it, she should place a flag on it so that other players do not mistake the planet as being neutral.

General Definitions

• Activated

  • Activated System
    A System is considered activated by a player when it contains a Command Counter from that player, preventing her units in it from acting again until the Command Counter is removed. However, most effects simply refer to activated and unactivated Systems without specifying any player, in which case the player is the one using the effect.
  • Activated Planet
    A planet is activated by a player when it is in a System activated by that player.
  • Activated Unit
    A unit is activated when it is in a System activated by its owner.

• Adjacent/Adjoining
  See here.

• Agenda
  See here.

• Army
  All the ground units a given player has on the same planet form an army.

• Blockade
  A player blockades enemy planets when she is the only player having ships in the System of the planets. By extension, she also blockades all units present on these planets.
• Border
  Systems are hexagonal tiles, whenever two Systems share an edge, this edge is a border. Note:
  This implies that wormholes are not borders.
• Combat Roll
  See here.
• Controlling a System
  See here.
• Capture
  Some effects allow a player to capture enemy units . When this happens, replace them with your own. Captured Space Dock are immediately exhausted.
• Empty Planet
  See here.
• Enemy
  Enemy units and planets are those that are controlled by other players.
• Fleet
  All the ships a given player has in the same System form a fleet.
• Friendly
  Friendly units and planets are those you control.
• Ground Unit
  See here.

• Hostile Act
  When a player:

  • Is the attacker in a Space Battle against another player.
    Or
  • Either lands ground units on or assigns units to bombard an enemy planet.

  She is said to have performed a Hostile Act against the player controlling the enemy ships or planet.

• Hostile Action
  When a player performs an action in which she performs one or more Hostile Acts against a player, she is said to have performed a Hostile Action against this player.

• Inflicting A Hit
  See here.
• Installations
  See here.
• Invasion
  See here.
• Killing a Leader
  A player is said to have killed a leader if she either:
  • Executed that leader.
  • Destroyed through combat roll the ship the leader was on, and the ensuing fate roll was a 1.
  • Took control of the planet the leader was on, and the ensuing fate roll was a 1.
• Natural Wealth
  Some effects place Trade Goods working “as Natural Wealth”. Refer to the effect of the Natural Wealth Domain Counter.
• Neutral
  Neutral units and planets are those that are not controlled by any players.
• Reinforcements
  The reinforcements of a player designate the area in which she keeps all her unused / destroyed units and tokens.
• Recycling
  Recycling a card means discarding it and drawing a new one of the same type.
• Rotation Order
  A procedure occurring in Rotation Order will start with the Speaker and continue around the table with the other players in the orientation of the Rotation Cycler.
• “Scoring A Hit”
  See here.
• Scuttle
  Scuttling a unit means removing it from the board and placing it back in its owner’s reinforcement.
• Ship
  See here.
• Speaker
  The player holding the Speaker Token is referred to as the Speaker.
• Stable Wormhole
  See here.
• “You may use the effects of” (a Technology)
  See here.

Rule Adjustments Based On The Number Of Players

8 players

• The 9th Strategy Card, Prospect, is used.

7 players

• The 9th Strategy Card, Prospect, is used.

5 players

• At the end of the Strategy Phase, randomly select an unpicked Strategy Card and remove the newly placed Bonus Counter from the card. In the Action Phase, as soon as its initiative value is reached, execute the card as if played by no player: Primary Ability has no effect, but Secondary Abilities and Special follow as normal. For the purpose of effects interacting with unpicked Strategy Cards, it is considered picked.

4 players

• The 9th Strategy Card, Prospect, is used.
• Players pick TWO Strategy Cards instead of one during the Strategy Phase (they still pick one card at a time). The initiative of a player with multiple Strategy Cards is the lowest number among all of her Strategy Cards.
• Players may self-trade ONE of their Trade Agreements.
• During the Strategy Phase, after all Agendas have been revealed, reveal additional Political Cards from the deck so that there are 5 revealed Agendas in the Twilight Council area. If some of these agendas are not voted on during the Action Phase, they are discarded during the Status Phase.

3 players

• Players pick TWO Strategy Cards instead of one during the Strategy Phase (they still pick one card at a time). The initiative of a player with multiple Strategy Cards is the lowest number among all of her Strategy Cards.
• Players may self-trade BOTH of their Trade Agreements.
• During the Strategy Phase, after all Agendas have been revealed, reveal additional Political Cards from the deck so that there are 5 revealed Agendas in the Twilight Council area. If some of these agendas are not voted on during the Action Phase, they are discarded during the Status Phase.

2 players

Strategy and Status Phase

• Players pick THREE Strategy Cards instead of one during the Strategy Phase (they still pick one card at a time). The initiative of a player with multiple Strategy Cards is the lowest number among all of her Strategy Cards.
• During the Strategy Phase, after all Agendas have been revealed, reveal additional Political Cards from the deck so that there are 5 revealed Agendas in the Twilight Council area. If some of these agendas are not voted on during the Action Phase, they are discarded during the Status Phase.
• Players gain one fewer Command Counter during the Status Phase.

Trade

• Players may self-trade BOTH of their Trade Agreements.
• The option b) of the Trade Strategy Card may not be used.

Assembly

• The option a) of the Assembly Strategy Card (3) can be used to select your own agenda if you also select your opponent’s agenda.
• The option b) of the Assembly Strategy Card (3) also grants +3 votes to the active player.
• When the Assembly (3) Strategy Card is played, after agendas have been chosen for voting:
  1. Each player rolls three dice and gains as many votes as the lowest of his results.
  2. Each player may secretly spend Trade Goods to gain the same number of votes. Players should write the amount of Trade Goods spent alongside their votes, then immediately spend them after votes are revealed.

Objectives

• Players are not dealt Secret Objectives during the setup.
• The Sovereign and Imperial Special Objectives are not in play.
• No Preliminary Objective is revealed during the setup.
• The Voice of the Council Special Objective only gives +3 votes instead of +5.

Action Cards and Political Cards

• When drawing an Action Card or Political Card with the “2pX” symbol, it must be recycled immediately.

Race-specific changes

• Every other time Mentak uses their racial ability to steal Trade Goods, they gain a Trade Good.
• When Xxcha plays the Diplomacy Strategy Card, they may spend 1 Command Counter from Strategy Allocation and 2 influence to execute the Primary Ability a second time.

Annex 1: Effects of Domain Counters

For the general rules regarding Domain Counters, see the Domain Counter section.

Note: All units created by Domain Counters are treated as regular units for all intents and purposes.

	Peaceful Annexation The local civilization accepts the annexation into your galactic empire. Discard this counter.
	Void Space Your ships travel deep into space, silently passing thousands of dead and empty planets. No unusual event occur. Discard this counter.
	Hidden Factory Your exploratory units have unearthed an ancient, abandoned starship factory. You may produce ships for up to two production capacity in the system. One of the resources spent comes for free.
	Native Intelligence The local civilization offers their allegiance and share their research about distant stars. Secretly look at any face down Domain Counter on the board.
	Abandoned Freighters An abandoned fleet of freighters drift in dead space, with cargo intact. The whereabouts of the crew remains a mystery. Receive 2 Trade Goods.
	Uncharted Habitats Amidst the dark between the stars you discover an advanced, self sustaining society previously not earlier registered in galactic records. Leave this counter in the system. It is treated as a Trade Station of 0 resource and 1 influence (no refresh ability). Take a Colony card to represent this habitat. It is not considered as a planet or a Trade Station for Objectives.
	Ship Graveyard Remnants of a once great battle rests solemnly in space. Some of the ships may be repaired or looted for fuel and supplies. Produce one ship in the system for half its resource cost (round down) or receive one Command Counter in your Fleet Supply. This ship may not be a War Sun or a Flagship.
	Discovery The venture through uncharted space has provided you with advantageous discoveries. Gain one Action Card or one Command Counter.
	Natural Wealth The planet is rich on ore, gas, vegetation and other natural resources that can be extracted relatively easily. Place the indicated number of Trade Goods on the planet, that will work as Natural Wealth: if they control the planet, players may take one at the end of their Tactical Actions in the system and during the Refresh Planet step of the Status Phase. Natural Wealth Trade Goods at the same location but from multiple sources are merged into a single stack.
	Industrial Society An industrious and friendly populace welcomes your empire. With your help, they will soon be able to construct ships for interstellar travel. Receive a free (exhausted) Space Dock on this planet. If you are the Saar, gain 2 Trade Goods instead.
	Technological Legacy The populace of this planet harbours relics and remnants of ancient Lazax technology. Receive one technology for which you have the needed pre-requisites, chosen by the player on your left.
	Alien Technology Strange, alien technology are identified in the system. After careful research, it reveals marvellous technological secrets your scientists cannot fully reproduce. Leave this counter face-up in place for the remainder of the game. It is no longer treated as a Domain Counter but is controlled as if it was an Artifact. Any player taking control of this counter may choose one Technology and utilize its effect as long as they maintain control of this counter.
	Lazax Survivors The signs of intelligent life you detected turned out to be the very descendants of the great Lazax themselves. Leave this counter face-up in place for the remainder of the game. It is no longer treated as a Domain Counter but is controlled as if it was an Artifact. The player controlling this counter receives +3 votes.
	Neutron Radiation The entire landing force is exposed to an intense pulsation of ionizing radiation. No survivors are reported. Place this counter on the planet’s card. It is no longer a Domain Counter. When a planet whose card containg Neutron Radiation counters would get refreshed, cancel that refresh and remove one counter from it instead.
	Settlers Pioneers from one of the Great Races have already settled on the planet. Roll a die to determine a random opponent, who places two Ground Forces on the planet and claim it. The active player may cancel her landing on this planet (this also cancels bombardment). Units/Leaders unable to go back to where they came from are destroyed/make Fate Rolls.
	Gravity Rift Your ships head into the midst of an uncharted gravity rift! Leave this counter in the system and treat it as a Gravity Rift while the counter is present. Remove the counter at the end of the first action in which a ship has been trapped by this Gravity Rift.
	Wormhole Discovery Investigating an anomaly in the sector reveals unexpected wormhole activity. Leave this counter in the system. Treat the system as having an unstable wormhole of the indicated type.
	Space Pirates Ruthless vagabond roam the galaxy to prey on the wealthy and the weak. Choose either: - Pay 2 Trade Goods and remove this counter. - Spawn a neutral Dreadnought in the system for this action. When the action ends, if no player has units where this counter was, place it back. Otherwise, this player gains 2 Trade Goods.
	Fighter Ambush Sensors detect a myriad of small, unidentified ships approaching at high velocity. Spawn the indicated number of neutral Fighters in the system for this action. When the action ends, if no player has units where this counter was, place it back.
	Sudden Collision In the dead of space, unidentified objects slam into the hull and cargo area of your ships. Inflict a hit on one of your ships in the system or lose one unit carried by one of them. If you have the Antimass Deflectors technology, ignore this effect.
	Bio-Hazard While attempting to terraform the planet, millions perish due to influence highly aggravating toxins. Inflict one hit on the landing army. If no ground units remain to claim the planet, leave this counter in place.
	Hostile Locals All forms of Diplomacy with the local civilization have failed. Spawn the indicated number of neutral Ground Forces on this planet for this action. When the action ends, if no player has units where this counter was, place it back.
	Automated Defence Powerful laser beams soar through the atmosphere of the planet and cut into the hull of your ships. Spawn 2 neutral PDSs on this planet for this action. They immediately fire (using Space Cannon) once each at any player fleet in the system. These PDSs cannot be captured. When the action ends, if no player has units where this counter was, place it back. Otherwise, this player gains a PDS there.
	Hostiles and Natural Wealth The planet is abundant with natural resources, but the local populace will defend it at all costs. Roll one die and divide the result by two (round down). Replace this counter with both a Hostile Locals and a Natural Wealth Domain Counter of this value.

Annex 2: Variants and Optional Rules

Content:

• Covert Objectives (complete version, beta)
• Covert Objectives (light version, beta)
• Path of Fate (Race Specific Objectives)
• Simultaneous Tactical Action System
• Ascendancy
• Star by Star

Covert Objectives (complete version, beta)

Description
The Covert Objective Mod is an in-development mod that adds a new type of objectives (Covert Objectives) as light Secret Objectives, focused on agression. These objectives are acquired through a variant of the Bureaucracy Strategy Card. This mod uses an alternative Public Objective deck with much more peaceful objectives, and the injection of these into the game is now done through Assembly.

The main idea of this mod was to reduce the amount of dealing that was happening when an agressive public objective was drawn (like: “I’ll let a Ground Force on this planet for you to claim this objective against me if you do …”), as well as reducing the intuitive turtling reaction that would follow the revelation of objectives like “Destroy an enemy Space Dock”. So with this mod, aggressive objectives should hopefully be claimed in an actual aggressive fashion and encourage a more dynamic and proactive behaviour.

Setup (All the assets are available on the Shattered Ascension website)

• Replace the standard Stage I Public Objective Deck with the alternative version provided by this variant.
• Replace the standard Bureaucracy Strategy Card with the alternative version provided by this variant.
• Shuffle the Covert Objectives deck.
• Each player draws a Covert Objective.
• There are no Stage II Public Objectives

Rules

• Covert Objectives must be kept secret until claimed or discarded.
• During the Status Phase, a player may claim a Covert Objective from his hand instead of a Public Objective
• Players may not have more than 2 Covert Objectives in hand. If they have more they must discard down to 2.
• After agendas have been revealed during the Strategy Phase, draw a Public Objective and add it to the Twilight Council Area as an additional agenda that must be included into voting as a For/Against agenda if the Assembly Strategy Card is played:
  • If the objective is voted For, put it into play
  • If the objective is voted Against, put it at the bottom of the deck
  • If no votes are cast on the objective, place it at the top of the deck
• When a Covert Objective is discarded, keep it face down and shuffle it back into the deck

Generalities

• If an objective refers to a system that is not in play, recycle it.
• Only deeds from the current round count towards Covert Objectives unless otherwise specified.
• Players are advised to keep the units they destroy during the round on their race sheets to make it easier to verify Covert Objective claims.

Covert Objectives (light version, beta)

Description
This is an attempt at providing a lighter implementation of the complete Covert Objectives variant.

Setup

• Shuffle the Covert Objectives deck

Rules

• At the end of each Status Phase, each player draws a Covert Objective (without showing it).
• Players may not have more than 2 Covert Objectives in hand. If they have more they must discard down to 2.
• In the Claim Objectives step of the Status Phase, players may claim a Covert Objective if they do not also claim a Secret (or racial) Objective.
• When executing the Secondary Ability of the Bureaucracy Strategy Card, players may draw a Covert Objective instead of gaining the Trade Good.
• When a Covert Objective is discarded, keep it face down and shuffle it back into the deck

Path of Fate (Race Specific Objectives)

Each player is dealt her three Race-Specific Objective cards. Only one of these can be scored during each game (during the Objectives step of the Status Phase), but cannot be scored simultaneously with a Secret Objective.

Simultaneous Tactical Action System

The Simultaneous Tactical Action System is an optional rule allowing players to perform Simultaneous Tactical Actions when they could otherwise perform Tactical or Strategic Actions.

Simultaneous Tactical Action sequence:

1. Activate as many systems as desired. However, activating a system that does not contain friendly ships or Space Docks costs 2 Command Counters instead of 1.
2. Conduct the rest of the Tactical Action Sequence in each activated system, completing each step in all systems before proceeding to the next step. For each step, the active player chooses in which order the activated systems conduct that step.

Note: During a Simultaneous Tactical Action, all ships present in systems activated during this action may move out of them, regardless of the order in which these systems conduct the movement step. Similarly, units may be picked up from all of these systems.

Ascendancy

Todo

Star by Star

Todo